THE stock market rout during the third quarter has wiped $119 billion from the value of listed stocks in Singapore - their worst quarterly showing since the last three months of 2008.

After yesterday's market close, the 800 firms or so listed on the Singapore Exchange are now worth about $715 billion, based on their share prices, a 14 per cent slide from the $834 billion on June 30.

The drop was expected, given how badly the market was hit in the past two months, said Mr Terence Wong, co-head of research at DMG & Partners Securities.

Yesterday, the market had another session to forget, as the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) dropped 1.2 per cent, or 32.97 points, to 2,675.16.

For the week, it lost 23.64 points, or 0.9 per cent. And for the month of September, the loss was 7.3 per cent. The index has shed 14.3 per cent in the third quarter.

Investors have been fretting over the slowing United States economy, while the euro zone's debt woes are also weighing heavily on sentiment, with any default by debt-laden Greece likely to unleash a fresh round of panic.

The pain has been shared by markets globally.

Many Asia-Pacific bourses also recorded their worst quarter since the 2008 crisis, with Tokyo falling by 11.4 per cent, Hong Kong losing 21 per cent and Shanghai 14.6 per cent.

And as European shares posted yet more losses in early trade yesterday, the continent's markets were also set for their worst performance in almost three years.

On Singapore's blue-chip STI, the worst performer in the quarter was Jardine Matheson Holdings, which lost the equivalent of$7.2 billion in market value to $39.1billion.

Hongkong Land, another member of the Jardine group, fell by the equivalent of $6.7 billion to be worth $13.6 billion, while diversified company Jardine Strategic Holdings shed the equivalent of $3.9 billion to $38.2 billion.

Jardine Matheson and Jardine Strategic actually hit all-time highs in the third quarter, but their prices quickly slid after that. Hongkong Land hit an all-time high early this year before it was caught in the latest market troubles and lost value.

Mr Wong said investment funds which bought these stocks could have bailed out and 'taken profit when there's still profit to be made'.

Banks, often seen as a bellwether of the economy, were also beaten down in the quarter as fears rose over whether the recovery could be sustained. There was a knee-jerk sell-off among Singapore's bank stocks as financial stocks in Europe and the US plunged.

Falling oil prices led to investors deserting rig builders Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine, while Noble Group was dragged down by falling commodity prices in general.

jonkwok@sph.com.sg